


Defeated

by Active_Imagination



Series: Loss, and Letters To Those Left Behind [1]
Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Abuse, Johnny Lawrence is in a bad headspace, Post Season 2 Finale, RP based, Slight Canon Divergence, suicide ideation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:28:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27068647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Active_Imagination/pseuds/Active_Imagination
Summary: Johnny has a plan to defeat Kreese.
Series: Loss, and Letters To Those Left Behind [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979749
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	Defeated

Johnny didn't have a will. He had a plan. It was a good plan, meaning the only plan he could see working. Nobody else thought so. That's why he had the inspired idea to put his plan into action whilst everybody was at LaRusso's Halloween party. That way, nobody else would get involved, and nobody else would get hurt. 

He wrote a few letters that evening. In defense of the plan. In defense of his life, such as it was. He wrote more than he had written in his entire lifetime. Letters to all the people who had an impact in his life. It seemed too many, and too little, all at the same time. 

“That's all she wrote.” Johnny quipped to himself, before grabbing the car keys, and a bottle of bourbon. 

He knew where he was headed. There was a small voice in his head, telling him to ditch the plan and go to LaRusso's instead. He wasn't going to crash a party he didn't feel welcome at, even for a chance to see his son. He didn't really have any right to call Robby his son. Johnny took a large swig, to quieten that voice. He drove straight to the dojo, which was no longer /his/ dojo.

Johnny had to kick the door down to get in. He walked in, feeling like it should have changed, but it hadn't, not by much. Johnny was the one who painted those mantras onto the walls. They hadn't changed, but he had. He was on the outside looking in. From the outside, he could see how it looked like a cult. With Kreese as the leader. 

Kreese was in his office, asleep. It looked like he hadn't stirred, not even as the door was broken. Of course, it was a ruse. He was just waiting for Johnny to come closer. He was waiting to see if Johnny had the balls to strike first. He didn't.

“Wake up, old man. I want you out of my dojo.” Johnny tried to sound as commanding as possible, but his voice cracked, as if he was a teenager. 

“It's not your dojo, anymore.” Kreese replied, not even bothering to open his eyes. Johnny swallowed, hard. It would have been easier to accept a punch than it was to swallow that betrayal. It was a mental hit. One that kept replaying, over and over until it became too much to bear, and Johnny had to say something. 

“They're good kids, Kreese. I won't let you twist them into … whatever you're doing with them.”

“You won't let me?!” Kreese stood up at that, and it felt like he was towering over Johnny. “I am preparing them to be victorious in life. Something you failed to do.”

“It's not about winning. Not if the cost is too great.”

“Everything is about winning!” Kreese yelled. “You just can't see it because you're a loser, Lawrence.” Another blow. Johnny felt winded, sick. He had no retort. “I was almost proud of you, hearing you brought back Cobra Kai, that you won the championship.” There was still a part of Johnny that wanted to make his sensei proud. “But you're not fit to teach Cobra Kai. You're not a Cobra. You're a worm.”

“Is that how you fight? With words?” Johnny spat back, but he already sounded defeated. 

“You're not even worth fighting. You're nothing to me.” Johnny lashed out at that, striking first, his fist connecting with Kreese's cheek, then causing the cartilage in his nose to crack and blood to spill. Johnny recoiled in horror, wanting to apologize. It was too late. 

Kreese was still fast, or maybe Johnny was too frozen in shock to process time. He had to remind himself that this was the plan. Kreese grabbed him by the hair, slamming his head into the desk, straightening him up, just to throw him against the wall so he could land a few jabs to his kidneys, cracking a few ribs. It was all part of the plan.

Kreese kicked out Johnny's knee, but Johnny tried to remain on his feet, and that angered Kreese even more. Kreese stamped on Johnny's foot, so many tiny bones so easy to break. It just made Johnny bring his knee up, barely making contact with Kreese's stomach, and Kreese used that opportunity to catch Johnny's leg and twist the knee.

Johnny cried out in pain, a sob of frustration, sounding more like an injured creature than a man. 

Kreese towered over Johnny, gripping him by the throat, dragging him up, choking him as he brought him to eye-level. 

It felt like an eternity, Kreese's hand tightening around his neck, choking him, crushing his windpipe. For a moment, Johnny thought his plan had worked. It must have shown, because Kreese let go, and Johnny was left gasping for breath, pain flooding his senses again. 

“You wanted this.” Kreese accused. “Too much of a coward to kill yourself, you wanted me to do it for you.” Johnny wanted to argue that that wasn't it, he just wanted to break the spell Kreese had the kids under. But Johnny could barely breathe, let alone talk. “You're pathetic. Now, get out of my dojo. I'm gonna bill you for the door.”

Johnny left, hobbling, bruised and broken, Kreese's words echoing in his head. 

Johnny had one plan and it hadn't worked. He wasn't dead. It was worse. He was defeated.


End file.
